“how far the public university in the US has fallen”

If you look at the governing boards of private universities like Harvard or Swarthmore, for example, you’ll find that along with bankers and developers, there is also critical mass of alumni, public servants and academics, and that the board’s fundamental agenda tends to be maintaining continuity of mission and purpose — to doing, at most, a better version of what they’ve always done. The result is that while ‘private’ universities in the US tend to be run by people who actually believe in the non-profit mission of their institutions, the governing boards of our ‘public’ institutions are places where the wisdom of running the university ‘like a business’ has long gone unquestioned.

It’s important to observe that Terry Sullivan’s tenure at U.Va has always been, in every sense, utterly compatible with that last bit of wisdom.

On September 27, TNI co-sponsored the one-day conference "Said is dead. Long live Said!" at City College that marked a decade since Edward Said's passing. Collected here are some of the talks, graciously provided by the speakers and organizers